Kite sky diver kit



Nov. 8, 1966 R. M DQUGAL KITE SKY DIVER KIT 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept.10, 1964 INVENTOR.

RUDOLPH MC DOUGAL BY W7 4 )AM ATTORNEY Nov. 8, 1966 R. MQDOUGAL KITE SKYDIVER KIT 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 10, 1964 FIG.

INVENTOR.

R UDOLPH MC DOUGAL BY ATTORNEY Nov. 8, 1966 R. MODOUGAL 3,284,034

KITE SKY DIVER KIT Filed Sept. 10, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG. 5 FIG. 6

FIG.4 'l? FIG.8

FIG. 9

INVENTOR.

RUDOLPH MC DOUGAL ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,284,034 KITE SKY DIVERKIT Rudolph McDougal, 1014 Campeau St., South Bend, Ind. Filed Sept. 10,1964, Ser. No. 395,373 Claims. (Cl. 244-155) The present inventionrelates to kites, and more particularly to a toy sky diver attachmentfor a kite.

Sky diving toys are quite popular with children and have long been usedwith kites to be released far above the ground. Children enjoy bothmerely watching the parachutes float down and fitting them into amultitude of games, such as target and war games. However, conventionalparachute attachments have many failings; for example, they frequentlyrequire a special releasing mechanism to be attached to the kite stringbefore the kite is flown, and these special releasing mechanisms allowthe release of the parachutes at only one certain point along the kitestring. In addition, the prior devices were frequently complex andexpensive, liable to be damaged by the rough play of chlidren anddifiicult for a child to buy and use himself. They are often ratheruninteresting, since they release only one parachute at a time and arelacking in versatility. Therefore, it is one principal object of thepresent invention to provide a versatile parachute attachment for kiteswhich is simple in construction and use and which may be released at anypoint along a kite string without requiring a special release mechanism.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a parachute skydiving toy which is adapted to release a plurality of objects,resembling both men and field supplies, which then parachute separatelyto the ground.

Yet another object is to provide such a sky diver toy which is easilyrepacked for repeated use.

A further object is to provide a simple parachute drop of the abovecharacter which is versatile and stimulates children to invent many newgames to be played with the toy.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a toy of the typedescribed which is inexpensively manufactured from readily availablematerials, and which children can use with no special instruction.

Additional objects and advantages will become apparent from thefollowing description and accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of the sky divers cabin used in thepresent invention, showing it as it is carried up the kite string;

FIGURE Z-is a perspective view of the cabin as it is being released fromthe kite string;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the cabin shortly after its releasefrom the kite string and during the release of the divers to beparachuted to the ground;

FIGURE 4 is a rear elevational view of one of the divers as it dropstoward the earth;

FIGURE 5 is a side elevational view of a diver with out its parachute;

FIGURE 6 is a bottom view of the diver without its parachute;

FIGURE 7 is a side elevational view of the diver with its parachute infolded position;

FIGURE 8 is a side elevational view of the cabin;

FIGURE 9 is an end elevational view of the cabin;

FIGURE 10 is a top plan view of the cabin; and

FIGURE 11 is a perspective view of a diver as it is used without thecabin.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGURES 1, 2 and3, a cabin 10 is drawn up a kite string 12 by a pilot parachute 14,connected to cabin 10 by a yoke 16. Cabin 10 is suspended from kitestring 12 by hooks 20 attached to the middle of the top edge of each ofthe ends 22 of the cabin, and when it is released, the wind draws it upthe string by blowing parachute 14 in a well known manner. One or moredivers 26 are contained in cabin 10, as will be described more fullyhereinafter, to be released when a desired height has been reached bythe cabin.

A diver 26, made of balsa wood or plastic, is shown in detail in FIGURES4, 5 and 6, wherein it takes the form of a man, although if desired itmay be formed as a model of a weapon, crate of supplies, or the like.Four thread-like shrouds 30 are tied or otherwise secured at degreeintervals about the circumference of a disc-shaped parachute 32, whichis approximately five and one-half inches in diameter and made of thinsheet plastic in the illustrated embodiment. The shrouds 30 extend to apoint on the diver somewhat above its center of gravity,

as for example, in the back of the head of the man as shown, and areconnected thereby, being tied or otherwise secured to a staple 34mounted in the diver. The mass of the diver is suflicient to give thecombination of parachute 32 and diver 26 the stability necessary to fallslowly through the air with the diver supported by parachute 32. As seenin FIGURE 7, parachute 32 is easily packed by wrapping shrouds 30loosely about the body'of diver 26 and folding the parachute severaltimes along its radii into .an elongated bundle, with the center of theparachute at one end and the edge at the other end, which is then placedat the back of the diver with the folded opening at either the foot orthe head of the diver. However, children are generally careless andhasty and will often pack diver 26 with its parachute into cabin 10 bymerely crumpling and compressing the parachute, rather than carefullyfolding it in the described manner; therefore, the parachute should havea tendency to unfold itself even when crumpled, thus assuring that the.diver will float down even when carelessly packed into I the cabin.

wardly from bottom to top, the bottom being slightly larger than thelength and breadth of diver 26. In use, one or more'divers26 are placedin the cabin with their parachutes packed as described previously andpositioned flat on the bottom of the cabin, with the divers on top ofthe parachutes. The flaring of the sides and ends allows the divers toslide in and out of the top of the cabin easily. In addition/top edge 44of each end 22 is formed in a shallow V-shape, with hook .20 mounted inthe bottom of the V; thus, when the cabin is loaded and hooks 20 placedover string 12, the string acts as a top to hold divers 26 in cabin 10until the cabin is released from the string.

Four thread-like shrouds 50' are glued or otherwise connected at 90degree intervals about the circumference of pilot parachute 14, which ismade of plastic, paper or the like. The parachute is approximately nineinches in diameter in the embodiment illustrated and is provided with avent 51 in the well known manner. Shrouds 50 of the parachute areconnected to a cross bar 52 of yoke 16 by being tied, as shown, or byany other desired method. The yoke consists of two side bars 53extending at right angles to cross bar 52 to points near the bottom edgeof sides 40 and spaced relatively closer to one end 22 than to theother. At these points, the yoke is rotatably mounted, pivots 54extending from side bars 53 into holes 55 provided in sides 40, or intometal or plastic bracket mounted on sides 40 for strength. As

seen in FIGURES l and 3, this construction allows parachute 14 to dragcabin with a force applied to a point near one end of the cabin, thusgaining a mechanical advantage. However, when the cabin is released fromstring 12, as seen in FIGURE 3, the cabin can readily swing about thepivots-54 to an upside-down position beneath the parachute, allowing thedivers to fall out readily, as will be described hereinafter.

In use, parachutes 32 are folded and shrouds 30 wrapped about divers 26;the divers are then packed into cabin 10 with the parachutes placedbeneath the divers as described previously. Hooks 20 are placed overstring 12 and parachute 14 opened to allow the wind to flow the assemblyup the string. When cabin 10 reaches the desired height on the kitestring, string 12 is given a quick snap, and the resultant Wavetravelling along the string kicks cabin 10 oh? the string. Divers 26 areforced from cabin 10 by the pressure from the unfolding action of theirparachutes as well as by the turning of cabin 10 about pivots 54 whenthe cabin drops from the string. Thus, before the descent is'wellstarted, the divers and cabin are separated and parachute to the groundas a scattered group. The cabin in this group gives the appearance of abundle of supplies for the divers and thus is quite stimulating to theimaginations of children.

In one game that may be played with this equipment, a large circle isdrawn on the ground downwind from the child approximately beneath thekite or kite string. When the cabin reaches a point judged to be overthe circle, it is released to drop the divers in or near the circle.This forces the child to judge the probable drift of the parachutesbefore he releases them, and in addition, requires that he knowapproximately how far the cabin is from the circle. Scoring isaccomplished by determining either the number of parachutes the childgets into the circle or the distance of each parachute from the centerof the circle.

Since children often lose or break their toys, or lose parts ofmultiple-piece toys, it will occasionally happen that cabin 10 will belost or broken. In addition, there are time when a child prefers not tosee the cabin parachute to the ground, and wants only one diver to drop.Therefore, a double hook-shaped notch 60 is provided at the foot end ofdiver 26 to allow the diver to be used with a kite Without the cabin. Asshown in FIGURE 11, string 12 is slipped into notch 60 and parachute 32draws diver 26 upwardly along the string. When the diver is to bereleased, string 12 is jerked as previously described, and the diverdrops from the string to parachute to the ground.

Various changes and modifications may be made without departing from thescope of the present invention. For example, the divers may be preparedseparately from the cabin and sold as a kit to supplement the diversprovided with the cabin or to replace broken or lost divers.

I claim:

1. A sky diver kit for use with a kite and kite string, comprising abottom, two sides and an end flaring upwardly and outwardly from saidbottom to form a cabin,

'the top edge of said end being formed with a slight V- shapeddepression therein, a hook mounted in said depression for hooking oversaid kite string, a yoke rotatably connected to said sides adjacent saidbottom and closer to one end of said sides than the other, a ventedparachute having four shrouds, said shrouds being connected to saidyoke, a sky diver loosely carried in said cabin, a staple on said divernear one end thereof, a second parachute substantially smaller than saidvented parachute and having four shrouds, said shrouds being connectedto said staple, and means defining a hook-shaped notch in one end ofsaid diver for hooking on a kite string.

2. A sky diver kit for use with a kite and kite string, comprising abottom, two sides, and an end flaring upwardly and outwardly from saidbottom to form a cabin, the top edge of said end being formed with aslight V- shaped depression therein, a hook mounted in said depressionfor hooking over said kite string, a yoke rotatably connected to saidsides adjacent said bottom and closer to one end of said sides than theother, a first parachute having shrouds, said shrouds being connected tosaid yoke, a sky diver carried in said cabin, a second parachutesubstantially smaller than said first parachute and having shrouds, saidshrouds being connected to said diver, and means defining a hook-shapednotch in one end of said diver for hooking on a kite string.

3. A sky diver kit for use with a kite and kite string, comprising abottom, two sides and an end flaring upwardly and outwardly fromsaidbottom to form a cabin, a hook mounted on said end for hooking oversaid kite string, a yoke rotatably connected to said sides and closer toone end of said sides than the other, a para chute having shrouds, saidshrouds being connected to said yoke, a sky diver carried in said cabin,a second parachute having shrouds, said shrouds being connected to saiddiver, and means defining a hook in one end of said diver for hooking ona kite string.

4. A sky diver kit for use with a kite and kite string, comprising anelongated generally rectangular open top cabin, a hook mounted on saidcabin for hooking over said kite string a yoke rotatably connected tosaid cabin adjacent the bottom thereof, a parachute having shrouds, saidshrouds being connected to said yoke, a sky diver carried in said cabin,a second parachute having shrouds, said shrouds being connected to saiddiver, and means defining a hook on said diver for hooking on a kitestring.

5. A sky diver kit for use with a kite and kite string, comprising anopen top elongated cabin, hook means for slidably holding said kitestring in a top covering relation with said cabin, a yoke connected tosaid cabin, and a parachute connected to said yoke.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,735,309 11/1929Albrecht 244155 3,034,751 5/1962 Droullard 244l 3,052,434 9/ 1962 Tucci244 FOREIGN PATENTS 922,478 2/ 194-7 France.

MILTON BUCHLER, Primary Examiner. ALFRED E. CORRIGAN, Examiner.

5. A SKY DIVER KIT FOR USE WITH A KITE AND KITE STRING, COMPRISING ANOPEN TOP ELONGATED CABIN, HOOK MEANS FOR SLIDABLY HOLDING SAID KITESTRING IN A TOP COVERING RELATION WITH SAID CABIN, A YOKE CONNECTED TOSAID CABIN, AND A PARACHUTE CONNECTED TO SAID YOKE.